Here's one of a few of the Morse Avenue Panhandlers that roam the street around the Morse CTA EL stop. He's been at it for years. Let's examine the damage this panhandler causes to the "quality of life" on Morse Avenue.
Commuters who get on and off the El give this guy money to....
a) Ruin his health and the health of Morse Avenue
b) Pee and shit in the local alleyways
c) Get drunk and fight with anyone and everyone
d) Pass out and hauled off in a ambulance
This is why Morse Avenue continues to be a hellhole. And you can thank the commuters who contribute to the panhandlers cause. This is what your "change" has accomplished.
9 comments:
I see your point, Craig, but your approach is passive-aggressive. Rather than rant via your blog, you should stand at near the el entrance and excoriate anyone who gives change to bums like this fellow.
I'll admit such an approach is fraught with uncertainty and danger, but it would certainly be more direct and proactive than this blog posting.
I'm guessing the 49th Ward "Satellite Service Office" avoided this guy like the plague when it stopped on Morse Avenue.
After all, to get this guy to vote would take too much work.
This is the same man who passed out on Rogers two weeks ago. He just slowly collapsed, seemingly one joint – one limb at a time, right in the lane the buses use to turn in to the Howard Bus Station. It was almost graceful the way he just slowly crumbled to the pavement. There was no question that it was real though, he was definitely unconscious. Luckily, someone had a cell phone and they called 911 immediately. Then the caller and a couple of other men helped to moved him out of the bus lane. The caller and I stayed with him until the police arrived. The ambulance came soon after.
I guess I just don't understand how it is we, in this day and age, don't have a facility he can go to where they will feed and shelter him and provide whatever he needs in order to kick this horrid addiction. Why are my tax dollars going to automatic pay raises for useless politicians, salaries for the sycophant bureaucrats who serve them, and infinite TIF grants for developers who rape my neighborhood while stuffing their own bank accounts - not to mention an illegal war on the other side of the world? Why, instead, are my tax dollars not going for state of the art mental health facilities, physical health centers with highly trained well paid staff who are dedicated to keeping us healthy and whole, and public schools with state of the art technology and equally well paid highly trained dedicated teachers who feel personally involved in the lives and futures of our children. I just don’t understand.
Oh, yea, I know - this isn't utopia - this is Chicago, Illinois, USA, planet earth. This is where thin men drop dramatically to the pavement as if the weight of their own existence is too heavy to bear and the local Alderpeople chant a soft chorus of "gimme, gimme, give to me" in the background, and bloggers are chastised for not doing enough when the simple act of reporting is more than the critics are ever willing to do. Yep, this is reality and as long as this remains reality, I guess the one thing I can understand is why some people choose to hide from reality inside a bottle or a hypo or an endless parade of prescriptions.
- PEACE -
The guy is holding a Michigan hat in that photograph. Thus, I boo him lustily.
I just finished reading an amazing book called THE SOLOIST by Steve Lopez. I think after reading this maybe our perception of this godforsaken fellow may change. We need to improve our mental health services to those who need them. Yes I already our community and neighborhood is already full and services are not always what the client needs. Just read the book. Why not be able to change the way we treat these people.
billyjoe accusing someone of being passive-aggressive is more than a little ironic...
"I guess I just don't understand how it is we, in this day and age, don't have a facility he can go to where they will feed and shelter him and provide whatever he needs in order to kick this horrid addiction."
We do now....it's on Lunt and Sheridan
Hey,
Craigie,
I know you are probably out patrolling the streets in your fishnet stocking and high heels but there be a story about RP that you haven't gotten to yet.
Joe Moore and the TIF of Doom.
is he single?
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